How to Photograph Real Estate?

[NCSunnyBeach]

I am getting ready to sell a house and I would like to do the photos myself. Any good tips or suggestions on doing this.

Thanks for any help!

John

[Murtasma]

What camera do you have? What lens do you have?

[NCSunnyBeach]

Canon 40D and Lens is The 28-135mm kit lens that come with the camera. sorry for not adding that info in orginal thread.

[Murtasma]

I recommend renting a Canon 10-22mm to take pictures inside. The 28-135 should work well for outside but you may find the 10-22 still useful outside. You will also want to use a tripod when inside, you may want to experiment with using HDR as welll espcially for inside the house where a window is within in the frame.

[freybear3]

use a tripod and take LOTS of photos.

take photos of everything, and every room. different angles and lighting.

my best advice is to take alot of photos. this way you have alot to choose from.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by freybear3

use a tripod and take LOTS of photos.

take photos of everything, and every room. different angles and lighting.

my best advice is to take alot of photos. this way you have alot to choose from.

Spray and pray? Humm, would you apply that "technique" if you were shooting film and had to pay to develop and process every shot? Why get in a bad habit just because it costs nothing to shoot bad pictures?

So on to addressing NC's question...
So lets say you're limited to what you have and can't go out and rent the wide angle. You'll want to take a picture of some key element of the room that makes it appealing or unique (if available). You biggest task will be to get the lighting even. I would worry less about the color balance of the light sources and more about the depth and evenness of the light. imho, what you want is a fully lit room rather than a room in which the close area is ok and the corners are in deep shawdows. Use window light, table lamps, celing lamps to light the room.
So even at the widest angle you will probably need two shots of every room. To me, it makes more sense to take both from the same point rather than take one from the doorway in and one from the opposite side looking back at the door. Don't forget to have fun!

[NCSunnyBeach]

Thanks everyone alot of great info! Ok I don't have the wide angle lens, so Zona Could I take a couple of pictures from the same view point as you said and stitch them?

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by NCSunnyBeach

Thanks everyone alot of great info! Ok I don't have the wide angle lens, so Zona Could I take a couple of pictures from the same view point as you said and stitch them?

You could...but is there a payoff for the extra work? umm, maybe not so much...people can visualize the room with two photos by referencing a common spot in the two pictures. So I wouldn't spend the time merging photos. If you are going to spend any time working on a photo, work on the curb appeal on the photo of the front of the house. Make that appealing through good lighting - that golden light at the end of the day that works so well for people is pretty nice for houses too...it can allow you to light interior rooms so that you get that nice soft incandescent warm glow coming through the front windows... If the foyer so permits, a shot with the front door open with that warm incandescence inviting you in...That’s where I spend processing time. The front of the house is what people will fall in love with more often than any other feature (cool man-cave garages as an exception).